Create
by Dark Ice Dragon
Summary: Tao wants to make something for Rai.


**Summary**: Tao wants to make something for Rai.

Set after season 4 or something.

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**Create  
**

By Dark Ice Dragon

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"Hey," Tao said, plopping down opposite M-21 and Takeo as they watched tv, "we should make a gift for _him_."

M-21 and Takeo shared a look. Where had he gotten the idea _this_ time and what was he planning? And how could they stop him before he got too far?

"Why?" M-21 asked.

"Why not?" was the instant reply, Tao swinging on the seat.

…That was true.

"We can't compare against Boss or Miss Seira in the kitchen department," Tao continued, "so the next best thing we can do is make something for him."

That was also true.

"So," Tao said, holding a finger to the ceiling, "what does he like?"

"Ramen," was the easy answer.

"Tea," Takeo said a second later.

"That's it!" Tao pointed at M-21 and he twitched in surprise. "We'll make a ramen plushie!"

"...Wouldn't it be better to buy it?" M-21 asked. He was sure none of them knew how to sew or where to start.

Tao's hair flew from the force of the shake of his head. "It has to come from the _heart_." Tao slapped one hand on his chest, then spread his arms out in front of him. "It means more if we make it ourselves and think of the look of surprise on his face when we give it to him!"

"Tao…" M-21 said, huffing. "He'll know. He'll know we're doing this." It wouldn't be a surprise. Not when Frankenstein's master could pick up their thoughts like they could hear conversations across a room.

"Okay, fine," To said, puffing up his cheeks. "Then he'll know just how hard we worked on it."

"_If_ we finish it," M-21 said, getting up anyway. Tao would be dragging them in a second if they didn't.

"Ohoho." Tao clapped his hands, smirking. "With me in charge, there's no _way_ we're gonna fail!" 

A few days later, Tao snagged M-21 and Takeo by the shoulders as they were leaving the school grounds. "Shopping trip!" He started to tug them away from home and towards the shops.

"Didn't you just upgrade your PC?" Takeo asked, both of them allowing Tao to direct their moves.

"Yeeeah, but it's not for that! We need to go buy the materials for the You Know What!"

There was no-one around to hear them and M-21 snorted at the secrecy.

"And no saying I could have bought it myself," Tao said, moving his arms so he had them by the hands instead. "We're doing this together."

"Of course." M-21 would have been surprised if Tao _hadn't_ insisted on dragging them there. 

"Tao…" Takeo said, staring down at their trolley and M-21 watched as Tao threw in a third metre long length of material. "How big is this supposed to be, exactly?"

"I thought we were doing a bowl, not a _boat_," M-21 added. Or was Tao planning on making Frankenstein's master a bowl he could swim in?

Tao waved a fourth and put it in, heading straight back to dig through the materials. "We are! But this is the first time we've done this, riiiight?"

"Uh-huh…"

"So we're gonna end up making mistakes and wasting a lot of this anyway. And – aha!" He ducked down to pull out a light blue piece on the lower shelf. "Some colours might not go well with each other, so it's better if we have spare."

Tao snapped his fingers. "Oh! We could get some dye too, in case they're still not right." Humming, Tao wandered away and Takeo and M-21 followed. 

M-21 squinted at the piece of fleece in front of him. "I could use scissors instead." He had a better chance of following the guide line Tao had drawn with those, rather than wrecking the _room_ if he tried to slice through it with his claws.

Tao shook his pen at him, not looking up from the fleece he was working on. "Think of it as precision training. And stamina training."

"It's not going to take me twenty minutes to cut through all these."

"Okay, fine, just precision training."

Lips twitching, M-21 flexed his hand, transforming it and started to slice through the fleece. 

Takeo tilted his head at the bowl he'd made, his eyebrows drawn in. It was a bit lopsided and Tao peered at it over his shoulder, humming.

"Guess I made the measurements too deep…"

"Deep?" Takeo repeated, looking at him. It was a bowl and looked like one – what was wrong with it?

Tao nodded. "Yeah, it's a plushie, so it's supposed to be squishy and soft."

Squishy? Takeo put a bit of pressure on the outside of the bowl and it folded in his hand. It sprang back into shape when he let go.

"See? It's too thin. Hrmm…" Tao frowned, watching what the bowl was doing.

"I'll make it again," Takeo said, turning the bowl over in his hand.

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Takeo nodded. "I should be able to make it neater next time." It would help that he knew the strength he needed to pull the needle through the fleece now and wouldn't bend it.

"Great!" Tao beamed, then tapped his own lips with a finger, studying the bowl again. "Think we should go for a darker colour anyway? It seems too pale."

"We can try it," Takeo said.

"All right, darker colour it is!" 

"Heeeey," Tao said a few days later, flopping onto a chair as M-21 stitched in the last of the ramen noodles, "I'm hungry."

"I don't think dinner's going to be ready soon," Takeo said and M-21 grunted in agreement. There was still a few hours before dinner. "What do you want to eat?"

"I dunno – ramen?"

It didn't take much thought. "Here." The ramen plushie sailed in the air and bounced off Tao's head.

"Hey!" Tao grabbed it before it hit the ground.

"Now we know if it's soft enough," M-21 said, smirking.

Tao stuck his tongue out at him and then turned the plushie over in his hands, looking it over. "Is it done?"

M-21 nodded. "Just need to tie the knot and that's it."

Tao beamed. "Sweet! That means we get to give it to him before dinner!"

…Uh. Right, he'd forgotten about that… 

Tao approached Frankenstein's master, the plushie behind his back and M-21 watched, trying to see any changes in _his_ expression. M-21 couldn't see one but he did put his teacup down, looking at Tao.

"So the three of us decided to make something for you."

Frankenstein's master blinked.

"Ta-daaa!" Tao held the plushie out to him in both hands.

_His_ eyes widened at the sight of it. That was a good sign, wasn't it? And did that mean he hadn't known what they were doing?

"You can touch it – it's meant to be."

Frankenstein's master reached up and took the plushie from Tao's hand. He placed it on his lap and started to run his fingers over it, staring down at it.

Tao turned around and leaped at Takeo and M-21, throwing his arms around their shoulders, laughing. "Success!"

It did look like had it been.

"Now we can make the others something too!"

Wait-

"And maybe we can make them better and give them scents too as well!"

M-21 snorted, letting Tao hang off his shoulder, half-carrying back to the bedroom. Tao yelped, getting a better hold as Takeo followed suit. They could do that. 

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Prompted by Markky Mark 'Give Rai a ramen plushie :))'.


End file.
